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Georges St. Pierre
Georges St. Pierre is the former -- and two-time -- UFC welterweight champion, and the former short-lived UFC middleweight champion. He is thought to be perhaps one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport alongside B.J. Penn, Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko. St. Pierre most recently coached with on the twelth season of TUF and then defended his belt in a rematch against top contender Josh Koscheck. St. Pierre defeated Koscheck via unanimous decision. Throughout the twenty-five minute fight, St. Pierre continually landed jabs and broke Koscheck's right orbital bone. St. Pierre next defended his welterweight title against former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields. He defeated Shields via yet another unanimous decision. Feud with Diaz, Knee Injury, Last Few Title Defenses He was next set to face Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz who returned to the UFC for the bout. Unfortunately, Diaz missed two press conferences before the bout giving no reason for his absence. He was coincidentally pulled from the bout by the UFC management and replaced by St. Pierre's training partner: former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit. A little over a week before the fight, St. Pierre was forced to pull out with a knee injury and the bout was canceled altogether. St. Pierre was next scheduled once again to defend his title against Nick Diaz. The winner of THAT fight would defend the title against either Josh Koscheck or Carlos Condit. Unfortunately St. Pierre once again tore his ACL, injuring his knee for the second time. He was forced to pull out of the bout. Rumors began swirling about that St. Pierre might be stripped of the title soon. Condit and Diaz were then set to face off for the interim UFC welterweight title, with St. Pierre agreeing to unify his undisputed title with the interim title once more after his surgery and recovery. St. Pierre had a very delicate and intense knee surgery midway through December 2011 and it was thankfully deemed a success. St. Pierre was fully recovered by the time November 2012 rolled around and it was time to unify his welterweight crown with the interim welterweight title held by Carlos Condit. St. Pierre defeated Condit via an exciting unanimous decision, defending his title for the seventh time even as he unified the titles once more. Rumors abounded about his next fight with a possible superfight against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva or title defenses against contenders Nick Diaz and Johny Hendricks. St. Pierre decided to call out Diaz and if Diaz accepted the fight, it would occur in March 2013 in St. Pierre's own Montreal, Canada. The fight did indeed take place with a lot of trash talk from Diaz hyping up the pay-per-view sales beforehand to become one of the most anticipated fights of 2013 to that point. The fight turned out as many had expected with St. Pierre on cruise control outwrestling and outjabbing Diaz en route to a twenty-five minute unanimous decision victory. It was St. Pierre's eighth successful title defense. With the victory, St. Pierre immediately moved on to the next challenger in the spotlight, hard-hitting wrestler Johny Hendricks. Hendricks took the fight to the champion more than any other challenger in his long reign but despite that fact, the judges handed St. Pierre an extremely controversial split decision victory. With the victory St. Pierre passed old rival B.J. Penn for most time spent in the Octagon and passed Anderson Silva for most UFC wins and for most UFC title defenses. Retirement After the fight an emotional and bruised St. Pierre appeared to retire. A little under a month later on December 13, 2013, St. Pierre confirmed that he was vacating the UFC welterweight title that no one could take from him and taking a leave of absence from the sport. "I've been fighting for a very long time at a high level; a lot of pressure, a lot of criticism," St. Pierre stated at the press conference. "I've decided that i need to take time off; I know the UFC is a business - so I vacate my title for the respect of the other competitors; one day i might come back but right now i need a break. I knew before I was going to do this before my last fight. It just built up fight after fight after fight. Joe Rogan gave me the mic and I know that wasn't the best timing to say it so it came off awkward. I don't want to make people wait for a title shot while I'm retired. One day when I'm ready I'll come back - instead of red tape on my gloves it'll be blue." When asked if it was because of physical damage over the course of his career, St. Pierre vehemently denied this. "I'm 100%, never felt better physically. It's all mental pressure - I need this. I need to have a normal life for a bit." Midway through St. Pierre's probable time frame for his 'hiatus', St. Pierre tore his ACL for the second time in late March 2014. The recovery time for the first injury had been a little over a year. St. Pierre continued to tease fans about a comeback for the next couple of years, until things began to get real when he gained a release from his old UFC contract... and then signed a new one. Talk about a middleweight debut against champion Michael Bisping in 2017 were bandied about for a while, until finally coming to fruition in November of that year at Madison Square Garden. Return at Middleweight: Making History St. Pierre and Bisping went back-and-forth over three rounds of fighting, with St. Pierre ultimately emerging victorious with a third-round rear-naked choke submission victory. He was the fourth man in UFC history to win belts in two separate weight classes behind Randy Couture, B.J. Penn and Conor McGregor. Unfortunately, in early December 2017 St. Pierre was diagnosed with colitis which would prevent him from fighting at middleweight again. He vacated the middleweight title, setting a new dubious record of 'shortest title reign' at just over thirty days. Fights *Georges St. Pierre vs. Ivan Menjivar - The fight was St. Pierre's professional MMA debut and his UCC debut. The fight was Ivan Menjivar's first loss. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Justin Bruckmann - The fight was for the UCC welterweight title with Justin Bruckmann defending it. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Travis Galbraith - The fight was for the UCC welterweight championship with St. Pierre defending. St. Pierre came into this, his third MMA fight, undefeated. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Thomas Denny - St. Pierre came into the fight undefeated. "I'm here to fight Georges of the jungle and he better watch out for that knee," Thomas Denny said prior to the fight. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Pete Spratt *Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre 1 - The fight was for the vacant UFC welterweight title and it was St. Pierre's first loss. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Jason Miller - The fight was Miller's UFC debut and his only fight in the promotion thus far, against eventual champion St. Pierre. He lost by dominant bloody decision. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Frank Trigg *Georges St. Pierre vs. Sean Sherk *Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn 1 *Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck 1 - Both fighters were nearly identical, the same exact height and reach with Josh Koscheck being three years older. The fight was St. Pierre's first after losing the title in an upset to Matt Serra. The fight was also only Koscheck's second professional mixed martial arts loss. The fight was considered by some to be one of the most competitive in St. Pierre's career, excepting the first fight with Matt Hughes. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra 2 - St. Pierre regained his welterweight title and avenged one of his few defeats on the first UFC event in his home country and province. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch - Fitch's first -- and currently only -- loss in the UFC, the fight was for St. Pierre's UFC welterweight title. *Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn 2 - The fight was for St. Pierre's welterweight title, defending against former welterweight champion and current lightweight champion B.J. Penn. The fight was marred afterwards by allegations from Penn that St. Pierre had used grease (Vaseline) to avoid Penn getting a hold of him on the ground, and allowing St. Pierre to pass his guard easily and land more punishment. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy - The fight was for the welterweight title with St. Pierre defending. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves - The fight was for the welterweight championship with St. Pierre defending. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck 2 - The fight was for the welterweight title with St. Pierre defending. Josh Koscheck suffered a broken right orbital bone in the first round. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Jake Shields - The fight was for the UFC welterweight title with Georges St. Pierre defending. *Georges St. Pierre vs. Carlos Condit - The fight was to unify the undisputed UFC welterweight title held by St. Pierre with the interim UFC welterweight title held by Carlos Condit. The fight was St. Pierre's first in eighteen months. Category:UFC welterweight champions Category:Welterweight fighters Category:Wrestlers Category:Canadian fighters Category:Fight of the Night winners Category:Knockout of the Night winners Category:Submission of the Night winners Category:Retired fighters